The Beginning...
Steps ringing as they stepped in solid concrete were heard, several men running from an unknown threat as two break through a wall with their blades. "Hurry, he's appro-!" one of the men began, before being shot down by what appeared to be several adamant shards. The last of these three men looked up in horror at the source of those shards, "Y-you...!" he started to shout, as he too joined his defeated men on the floor within the instant. The man responsible slowly walked along the pool of blood, a voice of concern evident by his sighing. He walked through the hole in the wall made earlier, leaving the defeated men behind. As this occured, several men entered a large room filled in church-like settings, as the man who appeared to be the leader of his group stood ready for the intruder's arrival. Suddenly, with a burst of white flames, a massive hole was forged in the enterance. "My My... wasn't expecting such a massive explosion." the intruder said jokingly. The "leader" stood up tall, seemingly unfazed by this man's unorthodox method of entering. Without so much as a single glance, he had his men use Kidō spells to disarm the intruder, proving to be successful as the intruder's weapon flew out of his hand, stabbing through the wall and remained there stationary. The men then used a Bakudō to cause smoke to hide their movements, as they rushed in, attempting to kill the intruder. However, as screams were heard within the smokescreen, the same men who rushed in were completely thrown back. As the smoke slowly cleared away, the intruder walked slowly forward, facing the direction of the leader. "This... cannot be..." the leader stated, a sense of fear evident in his staggering voice and small beads of sweat. The intruder payed no heed, merely standing in his current position, looking at the tense leader. "Who... Who are you?!" the leader finally yelled, grasping his fear. The man smirked, holding out his hand as his blade spun out of the concrete wall it landed in, spinning right into the intruder's hand, holding it at a steady direction. This event caused a sudden jolt of shock and fear being sent up the leader's spine by seeing the intruder's telekinetic action. "Who am I?" the man finally spoke. "I am known by many as Shiroyasha, the white demon. Others call me Silver Hairs, and a few friends of mine comically call me Gray Hairs. But you? You may call me... Seireitou." the man spoke, unleashing a massive torrent of flames that overwhelmed said leader, seemingly destroying him in an inferno of white flames. Humble Beginnings, Burning Deaths The flames settled down, as the burning corpse of the leader lay dead on the steps of the altar. Seireitou gave a small smile, "Renge! What took you so long?" he blunty pointed out, as the image of a spiky-haired man approached the enterance created by Seireitou. Renge walked into the church-like building, scratching his head as if bored, "Don't yell at me, gray hairs! You made a mess outside and left a few stranglers. I quietly put them out of their misery, then I got hungry...leave it to you to take the one mission request from the Council that is miles away from a food joint." Renge yacked comically. "Urusai-yo." responded Seireitou in full japanese, as he held his sword on his shoulder, looking at his mess. "I'm not the clean-up crew, besides, if you had came quicker, we wouldn't be in this mess." he blamed, as Kamui soon walked into the room, looking around, sighing as he gave a small prayer. Renge cocked his eyebrow at Kamui as he entered the room, "Always the silent type, eh Kamui-san?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood. Yet after several more moments of only hearing flies buzz around the dead bodies that lie on the floor, Renge decided to drop it. "Well..what now Seireitou-san? Isn't our mission about over. I mean, these guys won't be getting up anytime soon." he said, grimacing at the sight of the destruction. Seireitou sheathed his blade, and hid his arms in his brown robe, overlooking the defeat of these men. "We were sent here to extinguish a threat that the Seijin Shadows proclaimed too powerful for even them to handle. Were they lying...? Or..." he began to think. Renge picked up a coin off a fallen table and examined it before flicking it away, "The Seijin Shadows are like the Gotei's Onmitsukidō. They're silent assassins. They probably knew these guys couldn't be taken out silently, so they just called us in to take them out quickly, since we were the stronger members of the Order." he explained, examining a broken vase. He scratched his head and gave in, "Very well... I suppose we should head back then." he stated, as the trio began their journey back. However, Seireitou tilted his head to the side, having an eerie feeling that he wasn't noticing something. Returning Back: The Seijin Temple Renge stepped out into the night air, allowing it to overtake him. "I can't wait to get back to the temple. This mission has been such a bother." he grunted as he turned his head to acknowledge the arrival of his comrades. "What seems to be the matter, Sei?" he asked. Seireitou, before answering, merely stared at the darkness of visibly-fading building they had quited, and then turned to face Renge with a reassuring smile, "Nothing wrong, Renge. Just... felt a creepy wind this night. It's kinda cold." he expressed, faking a shiver of evident cold air. Kamui, however, was not fooled. But, the purple-haired Master decided to leave it alone, and continued onward as they reached the cliff. Seireitou took a step forward, "Well, Renge, I opened it last time, so your turn to open the portal to the Seijin Temple." "Fine..." Renge fake moaned, before punching a hole in the dimensions with his unique kidō. He too felt Seireitou's worry over something, though he himself could not find out what exactly had caused it. "Ladies first." he said, jokingly motioning to Kamui. Kamui, though indifferent, shrugged Renge's comment and stepped inside. Seireitou soon followed, as Renge then did. Within the few minutes, they had arrived at the gates of a large temple-like complex. The gates were presumed to be of sekki-seki, and it's walls extended far down in both directions. From a bird's view, a large golden temple was located at the center, as several insignificant building structures were spread around the complex. Most of the area was significantly assumed to be training sectors, for the Seijin to meditate, fight, and access their Zanpakutō's inner world. Seireitou grinned softly, "The door appears to be locked." Renge grinned and rolled his eyes, "This will only take a moment." he said, walking up to the enormous doors that made up the temple's entrance and kicking them open with tremendous strength. "Everytime..." he spat waking into the temple, "You'd think they'd leave it unlocked after having to replace these doors so many times. I mean it's only common sense." Sighing, Kamui thought to himself, "Why do I think I'll end up being blamed for this..." Seireitou stepped inside the wreckage of the destroyed door, to meet the welcoming party. Renge bowed in respect, "Masters, we have returned." he said, simply. Haruko Shihōin looked halfway annoyed, "Really, Renge? Again with the door smashing?" she scolded him. Renge shook his head at her, as if disappointed, "They're not broken! If you insist on locking the door everytime, you must reap the consequences!" he yelled at her comically. Ken'ichi Misora, the shortest and youngest of the Masters, standing beside Tōkaru Mokushima, loomed afar from where Seireitou, Renge, and Kamui arrived. Tōkaru smirked by Renge's unwarranted means of entering, as Junsui approached the trio. Seireitou peered over, "Hey Junsu-jii." he greeted informally. "Ah yes. Seireitou's team has returned." Junsui said to himself. "Well then Masters, shall we move into the Council chambers?" he suggested, motioning towards the stairwell. Several minutes later, they were seated at their chairs in the Council's room. "Now then," Junsui said, "As the senior member of the team, I expect your report to be good, Kamui?" Kamui stood up, signs of small annoyance from Seireitou and Renge by Junsui's expression of Kamui being their senior were evident, as the former spoke up. "Seireitou had taken care of the rebellion being formulated there, crudely I might add-" he called, Seireitou giving off a small and silent scoff, "-however, something seemed strange regarding the surroundings." he added. Kamui then closed his eyes, opening them with an atmosphere of tenseness around the councilmen. "The spiritual power felt in that area was implying the occupation of two Seijin, not including myself, Master Seireitou nor Master Renge." A Mysterious Revelation Junsui looked at the other two, "And did you two notice any significant pieces of reiatsu there?" he asked. Renge spoke up next, "My senses aren't yet at the level of Master Kamui or Seireitou's, however, there was indeed an odd feel around the area. Seireitou seemed noticeably disturbed by the presence, so I will turn over my answer to him." Renge reported. Junsui nodded and looked to Seireitou, "Seireitou? Your opinion?" He seemed hesitant to speak, but at the same time had a duty to fulfill to his fellow councilmen by sharing what he knows. "Well... I felt an aura something reminiscent to that of Akujin." he explained. This drew shocked looks from Renge, Haruko, and even Junsui. "But Akujin was never a Seijin or a trained sage..." Haruko started to say, but was cut off after catching the seriousness of the look on Junsui's face. Junsui bore his eyes into Seireitou and then moved them to Kamui, followed by Renge. "That is quite strange indeed." he said, almost in a whisper. "It is odd you should mention his presence, because I have felt another familiar presence emanating from the same area you three were in....Aizen Sōsuke." Seireitou's eyes widened slowly at the mention of his name, as Kamui then spoke up. "That is correct. However... what drew me the strangest blank was that... these two auras of Aizen, and an unknown second... were in the same exact location, as if they were the same person..." "Impossible. It's absolutely impossible." mumbled Haruko under her breath. Junsui remained indifferent, but the air around him had intensified, "My young friends, this deeply troubles me. Very well then, the only way we can solve this mystery is to force this thing to reveal itself to us. Was there anything in that building that this thing might have been after?" Kamui then entered this discussion between Seireitou and the others, "I have nary a clue, but I will tell you this. It was not a fortnight ago when the same spiritual signature showed up in Hueco Mundo as well, being of dual persona." claimed Kamui. "Then that's where.." Junsui began, "Kamui, ready yourself a small strike team to go to Hueco Mundo with the singular intent of drawing this thing out of hiding. Renge, you are in charge of informing the Central 46...not that they'll listen." Closing his eyes, Kamui tilted his head upwards, "Very well, Junsui-shishō, but I would much rather have Seireitou-san lead this group if that's alright with you?" Kamui asked, opening one eye that peered over to Seireitou. "Very well. Request granted." Junsui replied. Seireitou nodded, as he turned to face Ken'ichi and Haruko, "Master Ken'ichi Misora. Mistress Haruko Shihōin. You two, along with two other Apprentices, shall be accompanying me to Hueco Mundo. If you have any objections, get over them." he ordered. Haruko smiled and nodded her agreement. "My only request is that the boy Koga Tensei accompany me. Master Junsui, is that okay with you. He is your student in the end." Haruko requested. Junsui nodded, "If it is alright with Seireitou, I have no objections." Seireitou nodded in agreement, "In fact, Koga was one of my choices." he confessed, as he then faced Junsui. I'll head over to Hueco Mundo in the morning, and then report back what we experience." explaining the specs of his group's mission. "Very well." Junsui agreed, "It is settled." "Alright..." confirmed Seireitou as he stood up, dismissing the council. The Night Before Later that night, Seireitou sat atop the large temple's roof, staring off into the moonlight. Koga arrived on the temples roof a moment later, crimson hair glistening in the full moon's rays. "Renge filled me in." he said casually as he sat down beside Seireitou. "So we're going after someone pretty dangerous, huh?" he asked, trying to be friendly. Seireitou paid no visible heed to Koga, but spoke to him anyways, his eyes fixated on the moon. At that moment, he noticed a few small snowflakes, descending from the cold sky. "Koga, let me ask you something. Why is the Snow white?" Koga looked slightly confused, but answered nonetheless, "That's like asking why my hair is blood red. I don't know the answer. It is how it is, I guess." Seireitou smirked alittle, and smiled at the young Seijin. "When you finally realize the answer, you will understand what it means to be a Seijin." he explained, as he peered his head over to Koga. Koga was at first taken back by the answer, and then gradually began to smile, albeit softly. "I still have a lot to learn." he admitted both to himself, and to his friend. "Indeed you do." he smiled, and faced up into the sky, as a gentle snowfall began to descend. "You sure do..." To Be Continued... :Next Time: Departure to the Dunes